In recent years, when public opinion turned against the Kremlin, there was one main way to find out about it — the Levada Center, a respected group of sociologists who broke off their relationship with Vladimir V. Putin’s administration and set up the country’s only independent polling agency. The Levada [...] Read more »
How foreign voices influence American wars
Recent research raises the intriguing possibility that Americans’ views about U.S. foreign policy can be influenced not just by the president and members of Congress – the elites from whom the public typically takes its cues – but also by the leaders of other nations and the United Nations. That [...] Read more »
Investors Expecting U.S. Markets With Best Return
International investors are the most bullish they’ve been on the U.S. and Japanese markets in more than 3-1/2 years as both countries’ economies are seen as improving, according to the latest Bloomberg Global Poll. More than half of those contacted said the U.S. will be among the markets offering the [...] Read more »
The New Sick Man of Europe: the European Union
The European Union is the new sick man of Europe. The effort over the past half century to create a more united Europe is now the principal casualty of the euro crisis. The European project now stands in disrepute across much of Europe. Support for European economic integration – the [...] Read more »
On Eve of Elections, a Dismal Public Mood in Pakistan
As Pakistan prepares for national elections, the country’s public mood is exceedingly grim. Roughly nine-in-ten Pakistanis believe the country is on the wrong track, and about eight-in-ten say the economy is in poor shape. Meanwhile, concerns about extremist groups have increased markedly. More than nine-in-ten Pakistanis describe terrorism as a [...] Read more »
South Koreans Remain Strongly Pro-American
As newly-elected President Park Geun-hye prepares to visit Washington, DC to meet with President Obama on Tuesday, South Koreans continue to express overwhelmingly positive views of the United States and its president. … A new Pew Research Center survey finds roughly eight-in-ten South Koreans (78%) have a favorable opinion of [...] Read more »
Widespread Middle East Fears that Syrian Violence Will Spread
As concern mounts about the Syrian government’s possible use of chemical weapons against its own people, publics in the Middle East – especially the Lebanese – are extremely worried about violence spreading to neighboring countries. Nonetheless, a new survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted before news emerged of alleged [...] Read more »
The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society
A new Pew Research Center survey of Muslims around the globe finds that most adherents of the world’s second-largest religion are deeply committed to their faith and want its teachings to shape not only their personal lives but also their societies and politics. In all but a handful of the [...] Read more »
U.S. Image Rebounds in Mexico
On the eve of President Barack Obama’s visit to Mexico, the United States is enjoying a resurgence of good will among the Mexican public, with a clear majority favorably inclined toward their northern neighbor and more now expressing confidence in Obama. [cont.] Pew Read more »
The Iraq Sanctions Myth
… The claim that sanctions killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children originated in a 1995 letter to The Lancet which, in turn, was based on a Baghdad survey done by Sarah Zaidi and colleagues. After other researchers identified anomalies in the survey data, Zaidi, to her great credit, re-investigated [...] Read more »